Microsoft’s founder has officially admitted that the puzzling Control-Alt-Delete key combination used to access the login screen was a mistake. In his speech at Harvard University, Bill Gates revealed that it was a mistake. This process was supposed to be performed with a single button.

Gates pointed out that this wasn’t entirely Microsoft’s fault. The matter was that the designer of the IBM keyboard refused to provide the software giant with a single button.

Control-Alt-Delete was from the very beginning designed as a combination used to reboot a computer, and in the early versions of the operating system it was a log-in screen. The IBM computer that Bill Gates helped develop was introduced three decades ago and he was at the mercy of suits at Big Blue.

This finally explains why the company used the somewhat difficult keyboard combination. In addition, this version of the story fleshes out what David Bradley, the engineer who invented the Control-Alt-Delete sequence said many years ago. Bradley claimed at the time that he came up with Control-Alt-Delete, but it was Gates who made it famous. The engineer had no idea why Bill used Control-Alt-Delete for the login screen, but now this hole in the story is finally cleared up.

At the moment, Windows XP and Windows 7 still use this combination, while Windows 8 uses it as a shortcut for locking the computer or accessing the task manager.

one of the pitfalls of an integrated rather than modular operating system like Linux whereby you can click on a process kill button kill whichever application has gone awry and restart it without having your whole system lockup and have to reboot or keep doing the ctrl-alt-del until the process manager can be accessed.

1. Click Start, click Run, type regedt32, and then click OK.
2. On the Windows menu, click HKEY_LOCAL_ MACHINE on Local Machine.
3. Double-click the System\CurrentControlSet\Control folder, and then click the Keyboard Layout folder.
4. On the Edit menu, click Add Value, type in Scancode Map, click REG_BINARY as the Data Type, and then click OK.
5. Type 00000000000000000300000000005BE000005CE000000000 in the Data field, and then click OK.
6. Close Registry Editor and restart the computer.

@ 5 and 7, count me third... I still use it now more than ever.
I can't get my desktop to show icons anymore (I'm using an old pir8ed version of XPsp3) so now I use Ctrl+Alt+Del to access EVERYTHING and run/shutdown programs.
In my opinion, "Ctrl+Alt+Del" was the Best mistake ever made by MS. lol

ponklay me too
Sorry guys n gals, most of you are misreading/misunderstanding the article, it does not relate to using Ctrl+Alt+Delete within Windows, it is about the windows log in screen using Ctrl+Alt+Delete which is used in offices for security(LOL). You have to press Ctrl+Alt+Delete, every time, before you can type your user name and PW. Most people in offices that suffer with this problem are numptys anyway and shouldn't be left alone with a computer for longer than 5 mins.

Wasn't "Ctrl+Alt+Del" just a rip off from the Commodore Amiga's "Ctrl + Amiga Key + Amiga Key".
This reset the Amiga for a warm boot-up.
As for the Windows key... I just removed it off my keyboard, Have not missed it!

All of you whining about hitting the Windows key by mistake and refuse to learn to type--- buy a keyboard that allows you to toggle it inactive. Most if not all gaming keyboards have a toggle switch or a button to do this.
G15 FTW

Who cares? It's been with us for an eternity now so if you haven't got to grips with it by now you shouldn't be using a computer but chalk and slate instead. And for those who keep hitting the Windows key by mistake, take some lessons in how to type or stop typing with your feet. I have Never hit it by mistake but use it for other tasks. PICNIC (Problem In Chair Not In Computer)